Readers' comments

I repeat, current reports and history of South Africa is toxic and twisted, therefore i shall not get into debates about history. My viewpoint is the obsession with a doomsday scenerio, or Zuma or ANC normally means that half the time we(the readers) get negative and normally untrue state of affairs. I gave and will give a simple example; the FIFA 2010 World Cup, where we were told it will be a big disaster and we all know what a success it was. This was particularly promoted by a certain section of the population. I don't want name names but we all read articles and commentaries on news24.com or timeslive.com and the nature of comments there are not of people who would want to see a united, prosperous country where they see the future of their kids.

North of South Africa in Zimbabwe, Oliver Barclay, a UK diplomat wrote on his experience in Zimbabwe how the behaviour and attitudes of some in that country can be blamed for the fall-out that we saw there.

I repeat...i do not understand the pessimism, doomsday scenerio about south africa; i have seen this in all media literature i read about the country. As previously stated, if you are an analystical reader, you can almost predict that any article you read will end up bashing Zuma or the ANC even if they aint relevant to story.

Finally one of the commentators accused me of voting for the ANC as if it is a crime in a democracy to vote for the ANC...this means more that 60% of eligible voters in RSA are guilty.

Pointing out the history of South Africa is inevitable because we are reading such negativity/doomsday fallacies because of the country's historical orirgins. surely there should be something positive happening in South Africa.

TE reports about South Africa are laughable. Can we really believe anything that comes from guys who had us believing that South African world cup will be a disasters. These TE & their apartheid benefators will never miss an opportunity to take a dig at South Africa, or it's leadership...when I started reading this article, I knew Zuma will inevitably be brought in...come on guys you can do batter than this. As for the apartheid benefactors, race-based priviledges are not coming back...live with it. You fought a war to defend a rotten system & lost

Surely editors at TE can give us the other side of South Africa..always negative

Don't know from which planet you are. The evidence are there for all to see. Quite typical that you cannot comprehend the ridiculous and pathetic image that "king" Zuma holds in the eyes of the world. He would never have been anywhere were it not for people like you voting him and his cronies into power. Shame, to think that you still dwell on the evils of apartheid when the country is sinking into a morass of self-enrichment schemes, a crumbling state and local municipal beaurocracy, declining education standards and output, legislation intended to cover everything in secrecy, runaway bribery and corruption - the list goes on. And to top it all, there is a systematic process (they call it BEE) to entrench racist policies that are far worse than ever dreamt-up under apartheid. Government in fact seems pleased with the murder squads systematically killing off white farmers and the unending crime wave that is keeping everyone hostage - hence also their unfaltering support for one of the biggest criminals the world has ever seen: fat purse Bob Mugabe. Who will you extort next once all SA's land have been laid barren and all hardworking citizens have been taxed to death? By the way go and read your history - there NEVER was a war that was lost! The only war was the one fought on the country's borders against communist forces fielded by the USSR, China and Cuba.

why all the anger and by the way I'm not South African..., therefore I never voted Zuma, I happened to have lived in that country for a long time. When I was there, I understood why they had to do BEE. As an outsider, I don't think they would have done it another way... you cannot have a situation where immigrants and dependents of immigrants who are a minority who got rich thru racial segregation continue control the economy of the size of south africa. I believe Botha had the most ridiculous image in the world...and for your info there was war that was lost in Angola, South Africa & Namibia...Rhodesia was a different case...and atrocities were committed too especially in Angola... that was the evils of apartheid. after losing they were all forgiven under a sham T & R process...big lies

But I do understand the anger, I met a lot of it in & now out of South Africa, whenever I meet South Africans of a certain racial group...if I had privileges or my forefathers had privileges and they were taken away thru BEE I would be angry...just like I would be angry for lack of opportunities, rights, etc before 1994 in South Africa

It's no use quibbling with the uniformed. Suffice to ask you once again to read up on history. You will learn that the "white immigrants" from Europe have been in the country for equally as long as most of the "indigenous blacks" of SA. (6,7,8 generations - longer than the Australians and nearly as long as the American/Canadian whites or African-Americans - do you also regard them all still as immigrants?) By reading up on history, you should then learn that the black migrants from mid- and east-Africa arrived in the Eastern Cape at about the same time that the colonists were moving into that area. So really, STOP TELLING ME I'M AN IMMIGRANT as if I do not have a birth right in this country!
Fact is, some 100 years ago, there were as many blacks as whites in the country. Lots of non-white South Africans did very well under apartheid as many whites are doing now despite BEE. It is all a matter of drive and willingness to improve one's lot despite your circumstances. And yes - unfortunately I do get angry if I see drivel, lies and vagaries being strewn around while the problems facing the country in terms of bad governance could mean that my children may not have a future here - unless people with more self-respect, ability, honesty and some vision start to govern!

Constantly framing everything to do with Africa in terms of race and colonial history creates a backward looking culture. Focus on the future, educating the young and building a continental society that is beneficial for all of Africa's people, whatever their colour, tribe or origin.

I repeat, current reports and history of South Africa is toxic and twisted, therefore i shall not get into debates about history. My viewpoint is that the obsession with a doomsday scenario in SA, or Zuma or ANC normally means that half the time we(the readers) get negative and normally GROSSLY inaccurate reports on the the country e. I gave and will give a simple example; the FIFA 2010 World Cup, where we were told it will be a big disaster and we all know what a success it was. This was particularly promoted by a certain section of the population. I don't want to name names but we all read articles and commentaries on news24.com or timeslive.com and the nature of comments there are not of people who would want to see a united, prosperous country where they see the future of their kids. Again you have to check the ownership of these media organisation. Can you expect anything positive about the Democrats in the US on FOX News. I’m not saying there are no problems in South Africa, there are huge challenges and problems but it is not all doom and gloom.

North of South Africa in Zimbabwe, Oliver Barclay, a UK diplomat wrote on his experience in Zimbabwe how the behaviour and attitudes of some in that country can be partly blamed for the fall-out that we saw there.

I repeat...i do not understand the pessimism, doomsday scenerio about south africa; i have seen this in all media literature i read about the country. As previously stated, if you are an analytical reader, you can almost predict that any article you read will end up bashing Zuma or the ANC even if they ain’t relevant to story. The same predictability is almost guaranteed on the comments that follow that story.

Finally one of the commentators accused me of voting for the ANC as if it is a crime in a democracy to vote for the ANC...this means more that 60% of eligible voters in RSA are guilty.

Pointing out the history of South Africa is inevitable because we are reading such negativity/doomsday fallacies because of the country's historical origins. The politics in South Africa is in most cases black and white because of historical events that are obvious to us all.Unfortunately the media reporting is also black and white…there is no grey or middle ground.
Surely there should be something positive happening in South Africa.

It's really sad that a nine-year old died of a heart attack! The article doesn't say, but was it solely due to obesity? I wonder if it also has to do with a congenital heart condition of some sort that made his heart vulnerable to this sort of stress death i.e. the interaction of the stress caused by atherosclerosis, the sheer work effort of pumping blood out to the circumference of a larger than usual waistline and trunk. But was there a compromised valve too? A viral infection? Nevertheless, the other statistics are alarming as well. In my Universtiy of Toronto Sociocultural aspects of nutrition we learned that diseases of affluence, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, are primarily caused by our wealth and therefore our ability to overeat.

I hate to say it, like most things in SA - culture for beauty in fat and the stats that GSK showed are actually all race based. In fact the statement, "...despite South Africa’s reputation as a sporty outdoors nation..." is also race based and all ironic.

The overwhelming majority of those over weight people are black and the "reputation as a sporty outdoors nation" is white. Although there are of course many overweight white people and many sporty outdoors black people.

I hate to say it, like most things in SA - culture for beauty in fat and the stats that GSK showed are actually all race based. In fact the statement, "...despite South Africa’s reputation as a sporty outdoors nation..." is also race based and all ironic.

The overwhelming majority of those over weight people are black and the "reputation as a sporty outdoors nation" is white. Although there are of course many overweight white people and many sporty outdoors black people.

A fat tax will have no effect on people like Zuma.It appears this family in any case has problems with self discipline.It really is a sad paradox that whereas in much of the African continent there is still starvation there are those who are prepared to kill themselves eating.But we all have our faults I presume and to those who are food addicts I guess I can only sympathise with them.As one of the commentator above rightly points out ... the fault is not in our food but in ourselves, - I parody Shakespeare here.

In a nation such as South Africa, where most of the population has endured poverty and permanent malnutrition for countless generations (indeed, forever), it is unsurprising that rising incomes and cheap food lead to soaring obesity and diabetes.

It's a vicious mix of culture and epigenetics - and it happens in most poor societies as incomes rise.

And in time, both gene expression and culture will adapt to the abundance of food. This adaptation will be slower at the population level however, so long as a large share of the population must still suffer hunger.

Food is astonishingly cheap in South Africa, compared to other African countries. Its ironic that apartheid has produced a tenure system where farm land is owned by a minority white, but who are exceptionally good farmers. That has kept the prices of food very low. Fried Chicken costs almost half as it does in Nairobi, for example. Land reform, it seems would not only lead to more blacks owning land, but it might help them trim their waistlines if production levels fall as more land is allocated to mostly inexperienced black farmers (before anyone throws the race card-- a favourite past-time in South Africa-- statistics from AngriSA and gvernment show most of the farms (more than 90 percent) handed over to black farmers are on the verge of bankruptcy)

Expensive food can be of assistance in fighting obesity, but in a very narrow sense (I hope I didn't convey the impression that it is the ultimate remedy). In parts of Africa that have been hit by high inflation, families have been reduced into eating only one meal per day. But of course South Africa is not like those other countries. Expensive food might even lead to worse levels of obesity there, as more people will resort to eat unhealthy, carb-laden cheap meals. Kiribati, one of the poorest countries in the world, has obesity levels higher than South Africa

You are indeed right, the proposition that dearer meals can lead to slimmer bodies is a tenuous one, but it can apply to some.

Given the country's long history of oppression, denial of education and misallocation of resources, why would anyone expect the Africans to be immediately successful at farming. "Race card" chucking? To be sure, but it has been the Whites in SA holding all the cards.

I was in Durban last week, my first time in South Africa and it was for me astonishing how bad is the food that the people like over there. Chicken fries is the national dish and KFC the main food provider. So I am not surprised at all. Though Mum Nature is rich in Africa!